Leicester City defender Wout Faes hopeful of Belgium World Cup chance

From 2020 through to the beginning of this campaign, the centre-back starred for Reims, subsequently earning himself a move to the King Power Stadium.

At the time, the Foxes' acquisition of the 24-year-old failed to make many headlines, it instead being regarded as a value-for-money deal after selling Wesley Fofana.

However, Faes is already established as one of Leicester's key men, helping the East Midlands outfit to five clean sheets from his eight appearances.

Faes also featured in a backline which kept out Manchester City from open play, Leicester only conceding to a sublime Kevin De Bruyne free kick.

Having only made one five-minute cameo appearance for Belgium, Faes is no more than an outsider to make Roberto Martinez's 26-man squad.

Nevertheless, Faes feels that he has done enough to earn selection for the tournament in Qatar, commenting on his own performance in front of Martinez against Leeds United on October 20.

Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad, Faes said: "He was present as an analyst at the match against Leeds, I shook his hand before kickoff. I happened to become man of the match then, so he must have seen that. That is really very difficult to estimate [chances of getting selected for World Cup]. The national coach has to take a lot of things into account.

"The World Cup is the highest attainable, everyone wants to go there. But I don't think I can blame myself anyway. I can only say that I have done everything within my means.

"I play at the highest possible level, and I am in the best period of my career. Hopefully that's enough to convince the national team coach."

Faes's solitary outing for his country came in June as he was introduced for the closing stages of the 6-1 triumph over Poland in the UEFA Nations League.

Since then, he has not featured in any of the following four matchday squads, with Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Dedryck Boyata and Jason Denayer among the players ahead of him in the pecking order.

Faes will have one final chance to impress in the Premier League when Leicester face West Ham United on Saturday afternoon.